How Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse Is Similar But Different From Metroid

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is the third game in the Shantae series, and is headed to the Nintendo 3DS this year. The game takes on a Metroid-like design, with a large interconnected world, requiring the player to find and upgrade their arsenal of items and weaponry in order to unlock different areas and make progress.

Recently, Siliconera caught up with WayForward Technologies’ James Montagna, to talk a little about the game, how it’s going to be different from previous Shantae titles, and just what kind of an effect the Metroid-esque design will have on the way you play Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse.

“Last time, Shantae, at the end of [Risky’s Revenge], found herself completely without her powers—and we’re kicking the game off from there,” Montagna shared.

“She has to hesitantly team up with her arch nemesis, Risky Boots, the lady pirate, to take on a greater evil known as the pirate’s curse—but instead of transforming into an animal like she did in previous titles, she is actually collecting Risky’s pirate gear and is slowly becoming more pirate like. In the process, she might even be losing her identity a little bit.”

As Shantae collects pirate gear throughout the game, two things will happen. Visually, she’ll become more pirate, but at the same time, the gear she collects will also confer new abilities that will make you faster and increase the overall pace of the game.

“For instance, you’ll be able to find a pistol that will let you shoot a projectile to hit switches; or you’ll find a scimitar that will allow you to perform a dash move, allowing you to cut across a bunch of enemies really quickly,” says Montagna. “A lot of the pirate gear will make you move faster, so the gameplay starts at a moderate speed, but as you collect more gear, the gameplay becomes faster and faster. If you watch the trailer, you can see that Shantae performs a dash and then immediately goes into a cannonball jump, and then she glides on a pirate hat before performing yet another scimitar dash. You’ll find that the more pirate gear you collect the more crazy the gameplay becomes.”

Becoming faster as you add more abilities to your arsenal is something that’s definitely reminiscent of Metroid. However, at the same time, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse also features a few differences from the traditional Metroid designs. For starters, you’re going to have a stage select screen.

“This time around, since you’re teamed up with Risky, we have a stage select screen,” Montagna reveals. “You’ll be using Risky’s boat to sail to different islands, and each island is its own individual, self-contained Metroid-style map area. We’re really trying to change it up this time around, so we’re doing a lot of different things. You’ll notice that number counters pop up whenever you attack something, and we’ve included some light RPG elements in there as well. Adventure is still a pivotal part of these areas, though!”

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is slated for release this year on Nintendo 3DS.